U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Introduction to Accessibility and
Section 508
Accessibility Training:
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Agenda
• Why Accessibility is Important
• Section 508
• Accessibility Issues
• Types of Content
• The Future of 508
• Resources
• Questions
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Why Accessibility is
Important
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Why is Accessibility Important?
• Worldwide…
– 285 million people with some sort of visual impairment
– 275 million people with moderate-to-profound hearing
impairment
– Many more have physical, speech, cognitive, and neurological
di
sabilities or a limited understanding of English.
• Accessibility ensures all users can access the
product or service, regardless of their capabilities.
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Accessible Design Benefits Everyone
• Most of us encounter accessibility features
originally created for people with disabilities on a
daily basis.
• Each of these turns out to have applications that
also make things easier for people without
disabilities.
• Examples include the following:
• Closed captions for the deaf on television programs
• Curb cutouts and ramps for wheelchair users
• “Talking books” for the blind
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
What is Assistive Technology?
• Assistive Technology (AT) is any item, piece of
equipment, or system that is commonly used to
increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities
of individuals with disabilities.
• AT relies on proper use of the delivery format.
Some AT devices are well-known:
•
Eyeglasses
•
Hearing aids
•
Canes
•
Wheelchairs
AT software includes the following:
•
Text-to-speech c
onverters
•
Screen magnifiers
•
On-screen keyboards
•
Speech-to-text converters
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Why is Accessibility Important to Me?
• Electronic content produced at HHS must be made
accessible to all users regardless of disability.
• Electronic content includes:
– Electronic documents
– Web sites and pages
– Applications
– Multimedia
– Agency-w
ide emails
• Before the content can be made public, it must be
accessible per section 508.
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Section 508
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
What is Section 508?
• Section 508 is part of a 1998 amendment to the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
• It requires all Federal electronic content to be accessible.
• The U.S. Access Board is an independent Federal agency
which develops and maintains standards
that must be met to
achieve 508 compliance.
• The most applicable standards for electronic content are:
– 1194.21 Software applications and operating systems
– 1194.22 Web-based i
ntranet and internet information and
applications
– 1194.24 Video and multimedia pr
oducts
• HHS reviews are directly based on these standards.
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Examples of Standards
• When software is designed to run on a system that has
a keyboard, product functions shall be executable from
a keyboard where the function itself or the result of
performing a function can be discerned textually
[1194.21(a)].
• Web pages shall be designed so that all information
conveyed with color is also available without color, for
example from context or markup [1194.22(c)].
• All training and informational video and multimedia
productions which support the agency’s mission,
regardless of format, that contain speech or other audio
information necessary for the comprehension of the
content, shall be open or closed captioned [1194.24(c)].
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Accessibility Issues
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
What Can Create an Accessibility Problem?
When the ASPA 508 Team does a review, they pay
particular attention to:
• Images
• Captions
• Color
• Data Tables
• Dynamic Content/Interactivity
• Forms
• Navigational Elements/Links
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
What is Electronic Content?
• Electronic content, or “information and communication
technology” (ICT) is the message (information) you are
trying to get across (communicate).
• Modern technology allows us to separate the content
from the “presentation” (how it looks, or how it is
conveyed).
• Content alone can be inaccessible no matter what the
presentation, or delivery format.
• Section 508 says you have to choose a presentation so
the content is accessible to everyone.
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Using Electronic Content
• When using content that is not your own, don’t
assume it’s accessible.
• Creating complex content can cause problems for
developers and thus delays in publishing.
• It is much easier to create content that is
accessible in the first place (bake it in), than to
remediate content after the fact (bolt it on).
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Scenario 1
• You’re tasked with designing illustrations to aid in
understanding certain trends.
• You create a pie chart and a line graph and submit
the designs.
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Pie Chart
Apples
Bananas
Oranges
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Line Graph
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Result 1
• Your designs are rejected!
• They were sent to a test group for feedback, and
there was a colorblind user who could not relate
the legend to the charts.
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Colorblind View of Pie Chart
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Colorblind View of Line Graph
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Second Attempt
• After reading up on 1194.22(c), you realize you
can’t convey information with color alone.
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Accessible Pie Chart
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Accessible Line Graph
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Scenario 2
• You’re assigned to create a document to be posted
first thing in the morning.
• After review, you’re asked to add a table which
summarizes important data.
• You find a table on the web that works perfectly!...
So you put a screenshot of it in the document.
• You send it to Janet, a new coworker, who was
hired to convert Word documents to PDF for
posting.
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
A Complex Table
Employees Founded
Men Women
ACME Inc.
2000
1947
1400 600
XYZ Corp
1000 2011
600 400
123 Medical
1150 1973
750 400
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Result 2
• The next day you find a disheveled Janet giving
you a mean look and ask her “what’s wrong?”
• She replies she was up all night making that PDF
508 compliant.
– “I had to retype the table because it was an image, and
spent hours making the proper associations for the
header cells.”
– “And no, the table on
the site that you found wasn’t
accessible either.”
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Simplified Table
Company Male
Employees
Female
Employees
Total
Employees
Year
Founded
Acme Inc. 1400 600 2000 1947
XYZ Corp 600 400 1000 2011
123 Medical 750 400 1150 1973
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Types of Content
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Web Content
• All functionality must be operable by keyboard.
• Valid HTML is key to making web sites accessible.
• Pay special attention to the following elements:
• Images
• Forms
• Data Tables
• Frames
• Navigational Elements
• Dynamic Content/Interactivity
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
How Web Sites are Tested for Section 508
• Site-wide scanning tools
‒ Accenture Digital Diagnostic Engine (ADDE)
• Web page evaluation tools
‒ WAVE
‒ Developer Toolbars
• Standard specific tools
‒ Color Contrast Analyzer
• Manual inspection
‒ View Source
‒ Keyboard Evaluation
• AT evaluation
‒ Screen readers (JAWS, NVDA, Window Eyes)
‒ Voice recognition (Dragon, Siri)
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Scenario 3
• You’re a developer asked to redesign a small web
site to increase traffic.
• No problem, you know all the latest tricks to make
an eye catching site and a few cool 3
rd
party
widgets could bring in some views!
• Working diligently for 2 weeks, you submit the
design to your manager for a first look.
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Result 3
• “Back to the drawing board” says your manager.
• “I, personally, love the new site but I ran a WAVE
check on the homepage and no way will this pass
a 508 review.”
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
WAVE Accessibility Check
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Remediated Design
•
After taking our training on Identifying
Accessibility Errors in Web Sites, you try again.
• This time you get a clean report.
• As a bonus, the site is even easier to use!
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
WAVE Check on Remediated Design
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
PDF
• Accessible PDFs contain a
back end tag structure
similar to HTML so content
can be correctly interpreted
by AT.
• Tagging a PDF can be
tedious and requires
Acrobat Pro or expensive
third-party software.
• Having a well-structured
source file does NOT
necessarily translate into an
accessible PDF, but does
save time when tagging it.
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
How PDFs are Tested
• Acrobat Pro contains a built in Accessibility
Checker, but a clean report does not
always mean a compliant document.
• Standard specific tools
– Color Contrast Analyzer
– Adobe LiveCycle for forms
• Manual Inspection
‒ View tags
‒ Touch Up Readi
ng Order tool
• AT evaluation
‒ Screen Readers
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Scenario 4
• You’re asked to post a PDF on suicide prevention.
• Having heard about 508, you ask your contractor if
the document is compliant.
• “Of course!” they say, just run the accessibility
checker.
• Double checking to be sure….
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Clean Accessibility Report
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Result 4
• A week later you’re informed that the PDF has a
received a lengthy complaint regarding an image
and the user is threatening legal action.
• You’re confused because you made a point to
double check!! What image are they talking
about??
• The complaint included a screenshot….
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Problematic Image
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Remediated Image
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
MS Office documents
• Accessible documents use Built-in styles
• Certain elements can’t be made accessible in
Office
– Complex tables
– Forms
– Hidden decor
ative content
• PDF/HTML is the preferred format in every case
• Accessible office files tend to convert to
PDF/HTML more smoothly
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
How Office Files are Tested
• Office 2010 and later contains a built-in Accessibility
Checker, but a clean report does not always mean an
accessible document, and vice versa.
• Standard specific tools
– Color Contrast Analyzer
• Manual Inspection
‒ Style Inspector
‒ Accessibility/Productivity ribbon
‒ Alt text
• AT evaluation
‒ Screen readers
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
The Future of
Section 508
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Planning Ahead
• Existing standards are all that’s currently required
to be Section 508 compliant.
• However, WCAG 2.0 should be considered now.
• There is no indication of anything being
grandfathered in.
• HHS already requires one WCAG 2.0 guideline
which is not referenced in current Section 508
standards.
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Example of WCAG 2.0 Criterion / Sufficient
Technique
• 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum): The visual
presentation of text and images of text
has a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1,
except for the following: (Level AA)
– Large Text
– Decorative Text
– Logos
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Scenario 5
• You’re asked to send an email to promote a
conference your office is hosting.
• Your team lead wants the message to be colorful
so it’s not dull.
• The event is in February and there is a chance of
snow so you want to make sure to include the
make up date.
• You complete the task and send the email.
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Email Body
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Result 5
• It snowed and the office was closed, but the event
was able to take place on the make up date.
• A week later, 2 people email your office wondering
if the conference will have a make up date. They
are told the makeup date was in the email.
• They have low vision and were not able to see the
last line of text due to insufficient color contrast.
• Next time you’ll know to use the Color Contrast
Analyzer.
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Remediated Email Body
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Resources
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
HHS Resources
HHS has several resources to help designers,
developers, and authors comply with Section
508:
• HHS Web Policies & Standards -
http://www.hhs.gov/web/policies/index.html
o Web Policies
o Web Standards and U
sability Guidelines
• HHS.gov Section 508 -
http://www.hhs.gov/web/508/index.html
o Common Issues to Avoid
o Tips, C
hecklists, and Tutorials
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Other Government Resources
• Section508.gov - http://www.section508.gov/
• United States Access Board -
http://www.access-board.gov/508.htm
o Current Standards and progress on updating them,
including “About the ICT Refresh” at http://
www.access-
board.gov/guidelines-and-standards/communications-
and-it/about-the-ict-refresh
• GSA 508 Tutorials, Guidance, Checklists -
http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/103565
o Guidance to Creating Accessible Documents
o Resources for Making Websites 508 Compliant
o "How To" Guidance
• http://www.socialsecurity.gov/accessibility/files/SSA_Alternativ
e_Text_Guide.pdf
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Non-Governmental Resources
• How to Meet WCAG 2.0 -
http://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG20/quickref/Overview.php
• WebAIM: Web Accessibility in Mind - http://webaim.org/
• Colorblind Web Page Filter - http://colorfilter.wickline.org/
• Color Contrast Analyzer -
http://www.paciellogroup.com/resources/contrast-
analyser.html
• CommonLook by NetCentric Technologies -
http://www.commonlook.com/
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Our Job at HHS
• At HHS, our mission is to help the disabled. As a result,
mere compliance is not enough. Our Web pages
should be accessible to the greatest possible extent, so
our stakeholders can live dignified, fulfilling, productive
lives.
"The moral test of government is how it treats those who
are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the
twilight of life, the aged; and those in the shadows of life,
the sick, the needy and the handicapped."
-Hubert H. Humphrey at the dedication of the Hubert
H. Humphrey building; November 4, 1977.
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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Questions
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